China December 2013

Chery QQ3 EV repeated the Best Selling EV title it had won in '12

Nothing New Edition

We all now it's hard to get accurate data from the chinese EV market, but after getting some data about this market, i can now give a approximate ranking of the fourth largest plug-in market in the World.

Sales mounted to 17.642 units in 2013, which represented a 38% increase over the last year, when sales reached 12.791 units.

Based on certified data and past performances, the presumed Top 5 almost exactly like last years ranking, with the only change being the rise of the BAIC E150 EV to #5.

The Chery QQ3 EV kept its #1 by a great margin, selling roughly the same as last year, followed by the JAC J3 EV in #2, which also sold almost the same as in '12.

Next we have the BYD offerings, with the e6 in third with 1.544 sales and the now-deceased F3 DM in #4, with 1.005 units.

The only change is in #5, where the BAIC E150 EV profited from a bad performance from Zotye TD100 EV, to climb one position and feature on this Top 5.

By brands, Chery keeps on dominating the ranking with 28% share, followed by BYD with 15% and JAC with 14%.

Trying to see the future in the tea leaves, i guess that the new BYD baby, the Qin, will finally dethrone Chery from the pedestal, BYD predicts 2.000 sales/month, but if they can get half of that it would a good performance and also enough to win the Best Seller title.

Also of interest, the new Venucia e30 / Morning Wind (Morning what?!?) will have a word to say here, but with Nissan/Venucia predicting yearly sales of  just 1.000 units, it can only aspire to feature on the Top 5 ranking, without disturbing Chery or BYD.

As for foreign brands, even if they venture into selling EV's in China (And they will) the numbers should only be enough to aspire at the lower place in the podium.

With all this taken into account, i see sales reach some 25.000 units at the end of 2014, still not the boom people expect, but a steady growth nevertheless.

Pl	Model	2013
1	Chery QQ3 EV (e)	5.000
2	JAC J3 EV (e)	2.500
3	BYD e6	1.544
4	BYD F3 DM	1.005
5	BAIC E150 EV	710

(e) - Estimate

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France December 2013 (Updated)

Possible Renault Zoe Convertible: Maybe not the best idea to increase sales...

To Zoe or Not to Zoe Edition

Renault expected a lot from its electric supermini, especially in its homemarket, and sales in the first semester were ok, selling 3.594 units, but then summer came and while other started to see sales increase (*Cough*,Nissan Leaf,*Cough*), Zoe sales started to go down, losing monthly #1's (August, September, November, December) to its older, more utilitarian brother, the Kangoo ZE.

Right now in Renault HQ there must be a team debating what to do with its childproblem, the Zoe, for now it would be a good idea to sell batteries instead of renting them...

Anyway, despite that terrible  second semester, the Zoe won the Best Selling EV in France with 5.511 units, followed by the rockhard Kangoo ZE (4.174 units) and in #3 the Nissan Leaf (1.438 units) sales are improving ant it's looking to fight with its french cousins for #1 in 2014.

The Smart Fortwo ED also ended the year on a high note, selling 130 units in December, promising good things for the future.

Looking at the market as whole, the french plug-in market grew 26% to 14.905 units, making an EV Share of 0,83%. 

Finally, looking at PHEV's, the Prius Plug-In won the Best Selling Plug-In Hybrid title, with 393 units, followed closely (241 units) by the V60 Plug-In by Volvo and in third we have the Porsche (!) Panamera S E-Hybrid (Aka Plug-In), with 90 units, more than the sales of the GM twins (Ampera and Volt) combined...And incidentally, more than the Model S from Tesla, making France one of the few markets where the Panamera Plug-In outran the Californian Electric Star. 

Pl	France	Dec.	YTD	%	'12Pl
1	Renault Zoe	278	5.511	37	13
2	Renault Kangoo ZE	290	4.174	28	1
3	Nissan Leaf	166	1.438	10	6
4	Bolloré Blue Car	43	654	4	3
5	Renault Twizy	30	599	4	2
6	Goupil G3 e)	30	516	3	10
7	Smart Fortwo ED	130	478	3	12
8	Toyota Prius Plug-In	30	393	3	7
9	Volvo V60 Plug-In	50	241	2	N/A
10	Mia Electric	5	220	1	8
11	Peugeot iOn	1	178	1	5
12	Citröen C-Zero	14	94	1	4
13 14	BMW i3 Porsche Panamera Plug-In	9 30	84 90	1 1	N/A N/A
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24	Volkswagen e-Up! Opel Ampera Mitsubishi I-Miev Tesla Model S Renault Fluence ZE Chevrolet Volt Fisker Karma Ford Focus Electric Neoma Lumeneo Tesla Roadster	40 3 5 2	64 57 38 19 18 17 12 6 3 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A 11 16 N/A 9 14 15 N/A N/A 17
	TOTAL	1.156	14.905	100

e) Estimate

Source: Manufacturers, Automobile Propre

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